


Hot Yoga

by Anonymous



Category: Noelle - Fandom
Genre: Look I just want to think about Bill Hader kissing men, M/M, Mild Kink, i am not proud of this, there WILL be terrible jokes about being naughty, there are two fics and they're both too heterosexual for me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:49:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21671326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: This is pure thirst, but in my defense there are worse Hader characters I could write porn about.But I'm not putting my name on this.(note: oh man, I did not mean to sound like a dick in the tags, because honestly, everyone who writes smut about this character is doing the Lord's work! I just can't project onto a female Reader and afaik there's no real call for male Reader fic? So I went the OC route for me)
Relationships: Nick Kringle/Original Male Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21
Collections: Anonymous





	Hot Yoga

**Author's Note:**

> I'm incapable, apparently, of just writing pure smut, so chapter one is a fucking meet cute with no sex whatsoever, which honestly I am more ashamed of than I am of wanting to write smut about Nick Kringle in the first place.

Actually getting a studio has been an improvement.

Not that he hadn't been happy without one-- just getting to do _this_ , instead of what was always expected of him, has been so freeing. He's been happy in a way he doesn't think he ever was. As long as Nick can remember, there have been expectations. Even before he was being groomed for the mantle, it's not like he didn't _know_. There were things he wasn't free to do, there was a version of himself he wasn't free to be. And now, the weight is gone and he's just... Nick. And he gets to define what that means for himself.

Still, having a studio? Better than no studio. Getting to hold classes and meditation sessions indoors. Getting to offer hot yoga.

Okay, so no one shows up for hot yoga, like... ever. Elves aren't built for heat, go figure. But he kind of likes it. It reminds him of Phoenix-- and he no longer feels the need to run back there, or to run anywhere else, but there are fond memories.

Somehow, he thinks, it stands to reason that when he finally accepts that he'll be doing all hot yoga solo, someone else walks in.

"Hi, is this the-- oh, wow..." The elf in question tugs at his shirt, the heat hitting him. "I guess so. Hot yoga?"

"Hot yoga." Nick nods.

"My cousin Ivy is in your beginners' class, she was telling me I should try the whole thing out."

"Oh, yeah. I know Ivy." Nick keeps nodding, and he's very aware of it. And he's very aware of the fact that he does not normally meet people for the first time while not wearing a shirt, but he'd gotten used to having the studio to himself during the posted time for the hot yoga sessions and he'd decided the tank top was ultimately unnecessary, and he's aware of how much he's already sweating-- which is normal, the heat is up really high, but the first impression he must be making. And now, suddenly, he is aware that this is probably actually the second impression because even though he doesn't know the elf in question, the first impression he made on _everyone_ he didn't personally know was that he was a failure and a total flake.

He's very aware of the fact that he is looking at a very attractive elf.

Which is something he's allowed to think about. Not that he was ever discouraged from thinking about romance before, of course he wasn't, but he felt so strangled by expectation that there was no room in him to consider a personal life, there was no room in him to do anything for himself, like look at very attractive elves, or breathe. He missed out on so much, not because anyone ever told him he couldn't have those things when he had a destiny, but because he just never knew how to juggle Nick and Santa and his solution throughout his entire apprenticeship was to focus on the job he was being primed for and when he dropped that ball, it took him some time to fully unravel who he was-- who he is. He's getting to all that now, but some things come easy and other things... don't.

"I'm Duncan." The very attractive elf holds out a hand. Nick takes it before he can think about why he wouldn't.

"Hi. Nick. Hi. You probably know that. From your cousin. And because my name is on the door. My hands are sweaty, sorry."

"That's fine. I came here to get sweaty." Duncan laughs. "So. Hot yoga. What makes it better than cold yoga?"

"Oh. Um. I don't know." He says, his mind going blank. "I like it? There's... more... sweat? I mean-- it's just the beginner's class stuff but hotter. I mean, it's usually just me. But I like to keep it easy, you know, let the heat do it's thang. Whatever... whatever that is. I mean it must be good for you. Like how in Finland-- you know?-- they have this thing where you sit in the sauna, and you get all steamy, and then you run out into the snow after and it, uh... opens up your pores? Probably not that. Probably it does something else good for you. You run out into the snow naked and you whip yourself with birch branches? And then, I don't know. Back into the sauna to warm back up, that's what I'd do."

He officially hates himself and every word that comes out of his mouth is just making it worse, but when Duncan laughs, it doesn't feel like he's being laughed _at_ , it feels nice.

"Is that so? If I survive hot yoga, I guess I should try the Finnish sauna experience."

It's Nick's turn to laugh-- he thinks. He's bad at this, and the laugh is a little too loud and a little too fast, a little too desperate somehow, but Duncan doesn't pull back or shut down or look at him like he's weird, like the only reason to get to know him is the job he was supposed to do and if he's going to be a super awkward yoga instructor then maybe he's not worth the effort. He smiles, and he moves into the studio space proper and rolls out a mat.

"I've only done this at home with a video." He admits, lengthening his spine and lifting his tailbone. "Does this look right?"

"Um. Yes! Yeah, you look good. I mean-- perfect! All correct."

Okay. Okay. He can handle this. No looking at students like you want to do things with them, no matter how cute they are, no matter how much you like their laugh, no matter how little the pants they're wearing leave to the imagination. That's, like... rule one of being an instructor in anything. He'd thought he'd gotten pretty well immune to the charm of yoga pants hugging a well-formed backside back when he was a student, but then... he was still getting to know himself, he wasn't ready to _want_. Ready to notice if someone was attractive, but not ready to imagine a future, not ready to open up about himself to a stranger. Well-- he couldn't have opened up about himself to a stranger then, he couldn't open up about himself to anyone from the outside world. Not the way you'd have to if you wanted to make a relationship work. Is that what he wants? To make a relationship work?

So he tries not to notice when Duncan's shirt slips down the slope of his back, and he tries not to notice his ass, or think about any particular things he wants to do with or to it, and he tries not to let the sound of long gusty sighs move him, and when he does touch him to correct his posture slightly, he is professional and he doesn't linger, and he doesn't lean in closer than he has to.

When they leave the studio, from the oppressive heat to the bracing cold, it's a shock, a momentary relief before they're both shrugging into coats and laughing, and Duncan's hand lands on his arm and stays there.

"I'm sorry it's not much of a class--"

"No, it was great. I mean, even if it's not a 'class', you don't mind the company, right?"

"No, no, studio's always open."

"Great. Then I'll be back. At least until I can find a sauna, right? Still have to try that thing with the birch branches, see what that does for me."

"Skin! It's good for the skin! It's a leafy branch, it's supposed to be relaxing to the muscles and, like... stimulate something, in the skin. Just remembered."

Duncan laughs, and bites his lip. "Good to know."

"I, uh... I picked up a lot of trivia. Global trivia. Never got good at literally any part of the whole Santa gig, but I picked up a lot of random, random trivia. Just about different places. What the world is like."

Duncan's hand slides up to his shoulder, squeezes once. Lingers. "Then you'll have plenty of interesting things to tell me when I come by the studio for hot yoga. Or just if we see each other around. Will I see you around?"

Nick nods.

"I've got to hurry and grab a shower before my shift starts-- I promised to cover for a friend on the sleigh team this evening. But good-- then we'll see each other around. And, um... next time, I won't have any place to be after."

It sounds like a come-on, or like it could be a come-on. It sounds like, if anyone said to him, hey Nick, this is how this guy was acting with me, he'd tell that person they were being hit on and to go for it, but he can't quite believe it's true when it's him. He can't trust it. He does not know what he's doing, but then again, how is he going to learn if he doesn't put himself out there? And if it isn't a class, if it's just two guys doing hot yoga together, then that would be different, right? If he wasn't an instructor, just a guy with a little more experience giving advice? After all, it's not like he charged Duncan a fee or anything. Well, he doesn't really charge a fee for any classes but some people pay him anyway, there's a jar. It started life as a Negative Self-Talk Jar that he put change into if he found himself getting too down on himself and it just sort of became a tip jar to everyone else. It's not like he needs to get paid-- he might not be Santa but he's still a Kringle, as long as he's living at home he's kind of got a free ride through life.

He winds up swinging past where the sleigh team is working, towards the end of the evening shift, where he doesn't think he does a particularly good job of pretending he's just looking for his sister and wasn't sure if she was with the sleigh team or the reindeer team or if they were all together to run drills or what.

"Sorry, haven't seen her." One of the other sleigh team members says-- someone he knows, or at least, he knows he fell out of the sleigh in front of her on at least two separate occasions.

"Must be with the reindeer team." Duncan nods. "Sorry we couldn't help you."

"No, that's fine. I don't mind the walk. I mean, I'll catch her later, I know where she lives." He shrugs. "Did you know the Eiffel Tower is actually painted three different colors? It, uh, it gets lighter as it goes up. Looks better that way. They give it a fresh coat every seven years-- or I guess they give it three coats? No, I mean, it's one coat, but it's three colors. Well, I guess I don't know how many coats they give it at once."

"I didn't know that. I'm just getting off-- I could walk with you if you're heading towards the deer from here? I've got to go that direction."

"Yeah, yeah. That would be great. You could tell _me_ something interesting."

"I don't really know anything about... the _world_."

"But you know stuff. Come on. Teach me something."

"Okay, okay..." They fall into step together, Duncan tucking close to him so that they don't take up too much space along the path between garage and reindeer stables. "Did you know... it's possible to use a kite to power a sleigh?"

"What, like a _big_ kite? How much reindeerpower can you get out of a kite?"

"Depends on the wind. I've never actually tried."

"Call me if you ever do, though, I'd have to see that."

"Sure. Find me a kite big enough and I will." And there's that laugh again, and Duncan's arm nudges his. "I've got a racing cutter. Lightweight enough that it could work. Or the winds could pick up and drag us out to sea..."

"Oh, yeah, well that would be-- that would be terrible."

They're already at the stables. They're already at the stables, and he can see Noelle talking with someone, she hasn't spotted him yet, but there's no pretending she's not there and he might as well walk Duncan home. But maybe another time he could just say that's what he's there for. Or maybe another time he wouldn't have to, because they'd both be free to just go anywhere and do anything.

"I don't know. There are worse people to get lost at sea with." Duncan says, and touches his arm before leaving, and he turns back to wave, and Nick stands there for what he suspects is a _stupidly_ long time waving after him.

" _Oooooh_ , who's _that_?" Noelle asks, suddenly standing at his elbow, confirming that he has in fact been waving after Duncan for a stupidly long time.

Also, he can feel the grin on his face that even the possibility of being made fun of by his sister can't seem to erase, and it's goofy as all humbug.

"Nobody. I mean, he's somebody, but it's not important. I mean, he's not unimportant, but he's-- I mean, we met today, I don't know. Duncan."

She nudges him in the ribs. _Hard_. "Well, go for it."

"This is not a conversation I want to have with you."

She just smiles harder at that, and he still can't stop grinning over Duncan. Which means, he thinks, that he is _screwed_.


End file.
